– It is illegal

Thursday afternoon, Norwegian time, President Joe Biden will speak from the White House.

In recent days, there have been massive demonstrations in support of Palestine at several American universities.

– These are not peaceful protests, they are illegal, says Biden.

– Not an authoritarian country

– Destroying private property, threatening people, that is not a peaceful protest.

Biden defends the right to freedom of expression, but also emphasizes that it is an important principle in the constitution to follow the law.

– We are not an authoritarian country that silences the people. The American people have a right to be heard, but the law must be followed. It is allowed to demonstrate, but not to create chaos.

He also emphasizes that anti-Semitism has no place in the United States. Neither is Islamophobia or any other form of racism.

When asked by the press whether this will have any consequences for the US’s Middle East policy, Biden answers no. He also answers no to the question of whether he thinks the National Guard should be deployed against the demonstrators.

Massive demonstrations

On Thursday night, the police broke up a Gaza tent camp on the grounds of the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).

CNN is one of several media outlets whose reporters have seen rubber bullets being fired. It is already known that stun grenades were fired. The police made several attempts on Thursday night to break down the barricades around the tent camp, but were stopped by the numerous demonstrators. On the third attempt, they succeeded.

There have also been clashes between police and demonstrators at a number of other universities.

At Columbia University in New York, which has been at the center of the Gaza protests, the university administration has decided to close the campus and switch to digital teaching for the rest of the semester, according to NBC News.